The GOP Tips Its Hand — 9:45 — Sen. James Inhofe, the new ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee, has already penned a Washington Post op-ed which surprised no one by announcing that he'd vote against Hagel. Still, his opening remarks were interesting because they outlined …

The Chuck Hagel confirmation whip count — Former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel testifies Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee as part of his bid to become the next defense secretary, and behind the scenes, senators are quietly lining up on both sides of the confirmation fight.

A résumé check: Is Chuck Hagel up to the job? — There's not much on Chuck Hagel's résumé that screams secretary of defense. — He's not a former White House chief of staff, like Dick Cheney or Donald Rumsfeld. He never ran the CIA, like Leon Panetta or Robert Gates.

Hagel defends record at confirmation hearing — Lawmakers on Thursday demanded that secretary of defense nominee Chuck Hagel explain controversial remarks he has made and votes he cast during his Senate career, as the Nebraska Republican sought to defend his record at a confirmation hearing.

Some Unions Grow Wary of Health Law They Backed — Labor unions enthusiastically backed the Obama administration's health-care overhaul when it was up for debate. Now that the law is rolling out, some are turning sour. — Union leaders say many of the law's requirements will drive …

Idaho Republican Compares Obamacare To The Holocaust — A state senator in Idaho is expressing her distaste for President Obama's health care reform law by drawing a comparison between the private insurance companies participating in Obamacare and the “Jews boarding the trains to concentration camps” during the Holocaust.

Menendez rushes to pay private-jet tab after FBI raid — “Wonderful things, subpoenas,” Wilford Brimley said in Absence of Malice, after the threat of one broke the silence of conspirators in the film's climax. We can add FBI raids to that list of wonderful catalysts.

Chinese Hackers Infiltrate New York Times Computers — SAN FRANCISCO — For the last four months, Chinese hackers have persistently attacked The New York Times, infiltrating its computer systems and getting passwords for its reporters and other employees. — After surreptitiously tracking …

Kelly ‘proud’ of Giffords's Senate testimony — Mark Kelly, the husband of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), said Thursday he was “extremely proud” of his wife's testimony before a Senate hearing on stemming gun violence. — “For her to get up there ... as people can see …

Worth Reading — Here's a really meaty and interesting essay in the new and relaunched TNR about gun ownership and what gun owners want. What Gun Owners Really Want by Walter Kirn. — There's a lot there. But one point resonated with me because it's a flip side of something I was trying …

White House to shut down jobs council — The Obama administration will discontinue its jobs council despite persistent unemployment and news this week that the economy shrunk. — The council, created in 2011, has met in full only four times in its two-year existence and was up for re-authorization this week.

RUBIO'S AMNESTY A PATH TO OBLIVION FOR GOP — RESIZE: — Apart from finding out that Barack Obama did far worse in his re-election than nearly any other incumbent who won re-election, the only thing that perked me up after Nov. 6 was coming across a Time magazine published after the 2004 election …

Myths of Weight Loss Are Plentiful, Researcher Says — If schools reinstated physical education classes, a lot of fat children would lose weight. And they might never have gotten fat in the first place if their mothers had just breast fed them when they were babies.

Why We Took Cocaine Out of Soda — Social injustice and “a most wonderful invigorator of sexual organs” — 1894 ad for Vin Mariani, art by Jules Cheret — When cocaine and alcohol meet inside a person, they create a third unique drug called cocaethylene. Cocaethylene works like cocaine, but with more euphoria.

What Professor Hagel Taught — Cyberwar and Bjorn Lomborg at Georgetown. A former student is “disgusted” by the nomination process. — Before he became President Obama's Secretary of Defense nominee, Senator Chuck Hagel was a professor at Georgetown's School of Foreign Service for three years.

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